1.5 mil

[JohnnyH]

Don't tknow if it has already been mentioned in this thread, but Tony Barret in the Times is saying rafa has been told he has less then £2m to spend.

[johnnyboy]

What worries me most is Rafa could have a nil transfer budget next season but still be forced to sell to raise funds for the interest payments. I'm feeling sick to the pit of my stomach right now, how the feck do we get rid of them?

[Whelan]

What worries me most is Rafa could have a nil transfer budget next season but still be forced to sell to raise funds for the interest payments. I'm feeling sick to the pit of my stomach right now, how the feck do we get rid of them?

 

That is the worry, next season it is Mascherano for 35-40 and we get 20!

 

Although Agger could do with staying fucking fit for ten minutes, that would help.

[memyselfandpie]

This is so depressing.

 

I wouldnt blame Rafa for a second if he walked. Those cunts really do need the 'villagers with pitchforks' treatment, before they ruin us completely.

[cmuller]

I just can't see Benitez staying slient on this - if it's true. What's the point of having total control of transfers if you're forced to sell more than you can but each year? It'd take a miracle worker to improve the team (by enough to win things) under that set of circumstances.

 

If this is correct, I think we'll see another Rafa blow out by the turn of the year.

[Rex Banner]

I'm a ball of worry and dread at the moment, nothing is going right.

[philyhamann]

He'll stay silent because its in his new contract, since getting the new contract he has been a loyal subject of the American overlords.

[Ged B]

If these cunt's are still here next summer and the same thing inevitably happens again then we are in serious danger of losing the likes of Torres, Mascherano etc...

I'd also be amazed if Rafa would tolerate another summer of this shit.

Bottom line is this... If them cunts aren't out by the end of the season then we are well and truly fucked.

[Anny Road]

This feels like a crisis and it really shouldn't after one game.

[Dirk]

Rafa doesn't really have to resort to public criticism of Gillett and Hicks anymore. During the formative stages of their ownership Rafa had to speak out to draw attention to them. Now that he has everybody's attention, he can use channels in the press far more wisely and effectively than he could have at first. The early period of his battle with the owners was one of attrition whereas this period now is one of cold war.

[Carra_is_legend]

This feels like a crisis and it really shouldn't after one game.

 

To be honest, this is not about 1 game or even about 1 season. This is about the long term future of the club. We may be fine this season but what about next season when City would have had 1 year to settle and Arsenal's kids are 1 more year older. We will be standing still and that is the worry.

[Hermes]

He'll stay silent because its in his new contract, since getting the new contract he has been a loyal subject of the American overlords.

 

He doesn't have to state it as a criticism, just a fact. When asked about speculation of say signing Turner for £10m, he just needs to say "That won't be happening. He is way outside my budget at the moment".

 

He needs to say it though, one way or another.

[Bogman]

Stating the bleeding obvious here, but something needs to be done, and something needs to be done now.

 

This is bigger than the now, this is our club, our team - we need it sorting, and we need it now.

 

This is the life blood of Liverpool football club that is being drained from us. Time we stood up and took our club back.

 

The yanks need to be gone, sent packing back over the ocean to their country, back to their sports, and to get the damn out of our club.

 

We've spent too long sat our our hands, time to take your head out of the sand and back the manager.

 

They've had an easy ride recently, thanks to the magic rafa has done, but we need to reclaim Anfield, starting tomorrow night.

[Royal Family]

I love [ironic] this phrase ‘run as a business’. If it was run as a business, Rafa would be able to reinvest the money he earned the club through a second place finish and successive Champions league quarter-finals and beyond. In business, success normally gets rewarded. But what they mean is ‘run as a business’ after we have taken out £50-60m from the club and put towards our nice retirement fund. The money wasn't even there before the refinancing.

 

Only when these two have gone will we know the true level of fraud and misappropriation – but I’ve said before that, on my reading of the accounts and above all the monies unaccounted for on satdium building, etc, I reckon they have each taken at least £20-30m out of the club for the past two seasons. I said repeatedl;y last year that our success on the pitch was merely covering up the cracks.

 

Thanks DM.

 

Of course none of this would happen if we believed in regulation in this country. Instead we have an FA run like an old boy’s club, and where principles are sold to the highest bidder. Instead, as in the wider economy, we believe blindly in the good of the deregulated free market, despite the fact that History and Economics have repeatedly shown there is, and can be, no such thing.

[paddyberger15]

He doesn't have to state it as a criticism, just a fact. When asked about speculation of say signing Turner for £10m, he just needs to say "That won't be happening. He is way outside my budget at the moment".

 

He needs to say it though, one way or another.

 

And yet YOU out of all of the posters on here were the most vociferous in your criticism of him for doing that very thing. He is just an employee you said, he had no business talking about the state of the club in the press you said, he had no business criticising the owners YOU said.

Do you just make shit up as you go along?

[cmuller]

Rafa doesn't really have to resort to public criticism of Gillett and Hicks anymore. During the formative stages of their ownership Rafa had to speak out to draw attention to them. Now that he has everybody's attention, he can use channels in the press far more wisely and effectively than he could have at first. The early period of his battle with the owners was one of attrition whereas this period now is one of cold war.

 

Perhaps but I was thinking more along the lines of one final public outburst before he goes...

 

I just don't see how he can hope to work/improve the club & team when being forced to sell a big name per year to raise funds and then gambling the money on a couple of players who are probables but not certainties.

 

If Rafa or someone associated to him did leak this and other stories - what exactly are they acheiving apart from making fans aware and destroying any good feeling (probably little anyway) between the owners and the team management?

[Hermes]

And yet YOU out of all of the posters on here were the most vociferous in your criticism of him for doing that very thing. He is just an employee you said, he had no business talking about the state of the club in the press you said, he had no business criticising the owners YOU said.

Do you just make shit up as you go along?

 

He needs to say it, not leave it as an off-the -record comment to the press stirring up speculation which is how he's operated in the past. A bit of integrity and honesty would not go amiss where Rafa is concerned.

[Carra_is_legend]

I love [ironic] this phrase ‘run as a business’. If it was run as a business, Rafa would be able to reinvest the money he earned the club through a second place finish and successive Champions league quarter-finals and beyond. In business, success normally gets rewarded. But what they mean is ‘run as a business’ after we have taken out £50-60m from the club and put towards our nice retirement fund. The money wasn't even there before the refinancing.

 

Only when these two have gone will we know the true level of fraud and misappropriation – but I’ve said before that, on my reading of the accounts and above all the monies unaccounted for on satdium building, etc, I reckon they have each taken at least £20-30m out of the club for the past two seasons. I said repeatedl;y last year that our success on the pitch was merely covering up the cracks.

 

Your 2nd paragraph is pretty much the answer to your first one. You said a successfull business should get rewarded - yes, but if they view us a pure business, the success should only reward the share holders. In our case, the lovely George and Tom.

 

The only thing I don't agree with you is the £20-30m bit. I think they have each taken £50m each. If you add up the increase in loan from 2007 until now, the increased TV revenue, constant CL revenue, the supposed £100m spending on the new stadium, it is clear that they have got £50m each at least.

[Whelan]

Can we stop saying 'Rafa should walk' ?

 

Yes on principle he should, but we would be seriously fucked if he did, whether you rate him or not, as things stand he is (as with players like Villa, Aguero etc) a manager out of our price range, we ain't getting Jose, or Frank, we will end up Curbishley or Jewel.

 

Maybe Rafa is aware that he will struggle to win the league but still wants to give it a go, I don't know, I am just thankful that he hasn't walked out.

[Dirk]

Perhaps but I was thinking more along the lines of one final public outburst before he goes...

 

I just don't see how he can hope to work/improve the club & team when being forced to sell a big name per year to raise funds and then gambling the money on a couple of players who are probables but not certainties.

 

If Rafa or someone associated to him did leak this and other stories - what exactly are they acheiving apart from making fans aware and destroying any good feeling (probably little anyway) between the owners and the team management?

 

They will probably be hoping to generate public support for the cause, prompting direct action which they might hope will achieve a change in the owners' policies or eventually help to remove them from the club. I doubt Rafa will walk, he's invested far too much time and effort in fighting these two to walk away, the situation at Valencia was markedly different to this. The mental and emotional expenditure required to deal with the pressures of managing Liverpool are something I do not envy. That said, Rafa obviously believes in his ability, he will probably hope that he can keep us competitive throughout, whilst minimising the damage they cause to our club. Right now, we need Rafa.

[paddyberger15]

He needs to say it, not leave it as an off-the -record comment to the press stirring up speculation which is how he's operated in the past. A bit of integrity and honesty would not go amiss where Rafa is concerned.

 

Piss off. The bottom line is that you don't get Steak on a Corned Beef budget and that is what Rafa has had for far too long. And every season YOU criticise him for not producing Steak with some of the most contrary, agenda driven nonsensical arguments I've ever seen.

It's integrity and honesty you want is it? These two cunts have syphoned something like 200m out of the club and lied since they've been here and you are still having a pop at Rafa?

[Wezza]

Just about the only positive I can take from this at the moment, is it might highlight the issues facing our clubs to the people who think all is rosey in the garden.

 

I have seen it alluded too in a few places that we might have to suffer some short term pain for the greater good of the club in terms of its future. I for one hope it doesn't get much worse, and that the ownership issue can be put to bed as soon as possible.

[Hermes]

Piss off. The bottom line is that you don't get Steak on a Corned Beef budget and that is what Rafa has had for far too long. And every season YOU criticise him for not producing Steak with some of the most contrary, agenda driven nonsensical arguments I've ever seen.

It's integrity and honesty you want is it? These two cunts have syphoned something like 200m out of the club and lied since they've been here and you are still having a pop at Rafa?

 

He's spent more since they came than in the equivalent time period before.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

He'll stay silent because its in his new contract, since getting the new contract he has been a loyal subject of the American overlords.

 

I don't think he has been a loyal subject to them at all, he is just keeping quiet and being loyal to the club as opposed to those two cunts.

[Skidfingers McGonical]

He's spent more since they came than in the equivalent time period before.

 

We talking gross or net spend here?